Evaluation of the Boletín Médico del Hospital Infantil de México by the Literature Selection Technical Review Committee of the National Library of Medicine

Abstract

Correspondence: *María Guadalupe Campos-Lara Email: bolmedhospinfantmex@gmail.com Available online: 12-07-2018 Bol Med Hosp Infant Mex. 2018;75:5-6 www.bmhim.com Date of reception: 29-01-2018 Date of acceptance: 30-01-2018 DOI: 10.24875/BMHIME.M18000017 Evaluate ...evaluate... Evaluation, among other definitions, means to “collect and systematically analyze information to determine the value or merit of what is done”. To evaluate all human activity is inherent to the very nature of man. Governments, health, education, arts, institutions, organizations, companies are evaluated, and of course, the scientific activity of researchers, their projects, their papers, their “productivity” and even the journals where they publish their results. Why? What? How? On November 7, 2017, an email to the Boletín Médico del Hospital Infantil de México (BMHIM) arrived, with an attached letter from the Associate Director of Operations of the National Library of Medicine of the United States with the subject BMHIM, in which the first paragraph said: “The National Library of Medicine (NLM) uses an NIH-chartered advisory committee, the Literature Selection Technical Review Committee (LSTRC), to recommend journals to be indexed for MEDLINE®. At the recent LSTRC meeting, the committee recommended your journal for MEDLINE®. MEDLINE® citations are indexed with NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®) and other metadata, and are searchable as a subset of PubMed®.” First, joy. Great joy! The gap opened in December 1993, the last time that BMHIM appeared in MEDLINE, was finally closed. Next, great news to the authorities of our institute, and to the personnel of the Medical Editions Department ...Immediately after, acknowledgement; later, reflection... Acknowledgements to the authors who, since July 2014, and before, have sent their research to our journal. To the reviewers, who made possible one the main pillars of academic journals with their voluntary and professional work: the evaluation of the scientific content by external colleagues and peers of the field in question. To the members of the board and editorial committee that have collaborated with the BMHIM. To the authorities of the Hospital Infantil de México Federico Gómez, who have unconditionally supported the development of BMHIM. To the translators. To the editors. To the publishers that have believed in our work. Reflections ...It is worth mentioning the following: what did the LSTRC evaluate from our journal? Strict compliance with the periodicity of the publication of the Spanish electronic version (ISSN 1665-1146), also available in English; the quality of the content of the articles including authors and institutions; the quality of the external peer review. Furthermore, that all ethical policies were met: declaration of conflicts of interest, animal and human rights, and informed consent when appropriate.